A New Jersey petition on a White House website to secede from the United States has failed. The petition seemed to have been cut and pasted from other similar petitions, all posted after President Obama was re-elected, and ended in the middle of a sentence.

As David Chmiel over at nj.com noticed, links to the petition are now served an error message, saying the petition “has expired, because it failed to meet the signature threshold.” The White House website, called We the People, promises to provide official responses to petitions that get at least 25,000 signatures.

Nothing about the petitions is binding, of course. Believe it or not, the Constititution does not give the president the power to let states out of the union, just as it does not give him the power to kick them out. And for your history buffs, the last time a group of states tried to secede it led to a big war, which the rebels lost.

But it does appear Obama owes a response to people in the seven states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas — that exceeded the signature threshold (or the people who signed the petition to let them go). In its usual fashion, Texas ran up the score, with more than 119,000 signatures.

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The Bloggers

Melissa Hayes, who has worked at The Record since 2010, covers Gov. Chris Christie and politics for the State House Bureau. Follow her on Twitter at @Record_Melissa. View all of her posts

Herb Jackson is the Washington correspondent for The Record, covering North Jersey issues on the Potomac, including the activities of the congressional delegation and federal policies that affect the region. Follow him on Twitter @Record_DC.View all of his posts.

Salvador Rizzo covers politics for The Record’s State House bureau, with a focus on financial issues and the state budget, and legal issues in the New Jersey courts. Follow him on Twitter @rizzoTK.View all of his posts.

Charles Stile is the political columnist for The Record. He is a former State House Bureau chief at The Record and has covered politics and government in New Jersey for more than two decades. Follow him on Twitter @PoliticalStile. View all of his posts